


Work and Distractions

by dualcolours



Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Shepard has Two Hands.., ft joker EDI and kasumi!, there are a few other chars but theyre only in a little bit so im not tagging them but
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-04
Updated: 2020-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:00:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23018182
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dualcolours/pseuds/dualcolours
Summary: First he gets distracted from his work by saving Jokers hat, and then he forgets that sometimes he should go to bed. Luckily his partners don't.
Relationships: Kaidan Alenko/Male Shepard, Male Shepard/Liara T'Soni
Kudos: 7





	Work and Distractions

**Author's Note:**

> it's my canon and i decide that they're happy and living on the ship together and you can take that from my cold dead hands

Shepard sat at the desk in his quarters, brows furrowed as he reviewed his messages and personal notes, datapads stacked precariously and paper sticky notes haphazardly stuck up on the display case in between the few model ships he had bought. He had noticed that Thane turning away to cough more frequently in the last mission out, despite the drell’s attempts to be subtle, and he was looking back over the notes he had scrabbled down about the disease as well as what Chakwas knew and shared. 

The commander sighed and leaned back in the chair, rubbing his eyes tiredly. He still had some reports to make out, messages that yeoman Chambers kept reminding him to check, and he still wanted to make his way around the ship and see how everyone was doing, but the just thought of getting up tired him. He had almost given in to the desire to doze off in the chair when the overhead chimed gently as EDI made her presence known.

“Commander, Mr. Moreau would like to know if you have seen either his hat or your cat.”

For a moment, he contemplated not replying, but the thought of making EDI have to deal with an undoubtedly pouting Joker for longer than she had to made him feel pity for her. AI or not, that was a punishment he wished only on his enemies.

“I’ll hunt her down, EDI, I’m sure she’s hiding with her namesake.”

“Much appreciated, Commander.”

“Don’t forget, when I’m in my quarters it’s just Alexander, EDI. Gotta have a chance to be him at some point in the day,” He spoke to the ceiling as he got out of his seat and stretched. He winced at the popping he heard coming from his back and rubbed it gingerly.

“Of course, Commander Alexander.”

He didn’t miss the lightness in the AI’s tone as she technically complied with him, and he resisted the urge to stick his tongue out at her, reminding himself that he instead had to try to free Joker’s hat. Alexander left his quarters and entered the elevator, setting his destination for the third deck where a majority of the crew resided. He exchanged passing greetings with a few of the Cerberus crew as they passed, and Alexander paused for a moment outside of the Port Observatory where Kasumi had taken residence.

He knocked on the door before waving it open, finding the thief sitting where she normally was, a knowing smile on her face.

“Now Kasumi, I know what this may look like, but I promise. I’m here for a cat,” Alexander joked as he walked past her on the couch and got down to lay on the floor and peer under the bed. A pair of amber eyes stared back at him, and when he shone his omni-tool under the bed, it illuminated a black cat with a slightly rumpled black and white hat at her paws.

“You know, I think we named her too well, letting your nickname stick, Kas,” Shepard said as he reached under to grab the hat, ignoring the nyao-wow of protest as he pulled away Katsumi’s treasure. Kasumi giggled to herself as he got to his feet and brushed his pants and shirt off.

“Almost as good as me, Shepard?”

“Convinced you’re actually training a cat, Kasumi,” He replied, tucking the hat under his arm as the black cat wiggled out from under the bed and stretched up with another unhappy nyao-woaw as she tried to reclaim her stolen treasure. 

“Oh, it’s all natural talent from her, Shepard. She’s a very smart kitty, aren’t you?” Kasumi leaned over the back of the couch and cooed at the black cat, who gave Alexander a pitiful look before jumping onto the couch to let the master thief soothe her wounded pride. He waved farewell to the pair as he left with Jokers hat and returned to the elevator and set his destination a floor up. The commander ducked past Kelly as she stood at the galaxy map, breathing a somewhat guilty sigh of relief at managing to slip by unnoticed.

“Joker, my friend! I bring you a gift!” Alexander announced himself as he walked into the bridge. The pilot turned in his seat, looking somewhat annoyed until he saw what Alexander held out to him.

“Finally! You know, Shepard, I swear that cat has it out for me. I bet she and EDI plot to steal my hat, would explain why the cat talks to her so much,” Joker muttered as he dusted the hat off and fit it back on his head.

“Actually, Mr. Moreau, I informed Commander Shepard that your hat had been stolen and you were looking for it,” EDI replied, the hologram flickering by the pilot seat. Joker glanced over at Alexander who nodded and shrugged as if to say, “Nah, she really did,” and the pilot huffed and waved a hand dismissively.

“She’s just building an alibi. First my hat, then my ship!” Joker insisted, and Alexander pretended to not notice the way EDI spun his chair back around, or how Joker responded by sticking his tongue out. Instead, he left the bridge to return back to his room, managing to almost sneak past Yeoman Chambers. He heard her call after him as he dashed into the elevator and he gave her a sheepish grin as the doors started to close. She shook her head in mock annoyance and waved him off as the doors shut and the elevator started upwards.

He had barely stepped foot in his quarters again when he received a message alert on his omni-tool, and he pulled it up on his computer as he sunk back into the chair at his desk.

_ ::heard u performed a daring rescue of jokers hat:: _

_ ::kasumi came 2 get katsumis fav blankie:: _

Alexander smiled at the messages Kaidan had sent, quickly typing up a response of his own before sending it out.

_ ::truly a tragagedegy but she will survive…:: _

He left the horrible spelling error alone, finding it amusing just how awfully he had butchered the word and knowing that no doubt Kaidan would as well. He settled in to return to his musings over Thane’s conditions when he received another message, and checked it quickly.

_ ::sheppy u no the red squggle means its spelled wrong right:: _

_ ::squiggle*:: _

Alexander snorted and closed the messages without reply, instead choosing to stare at his monitor. He still had tabs open with notes about Thane- ways to make the room he resided in more comfortable for him, planets and missions he’d find it easier to go on and missions and planets that were completely out of the picture. He put the tabs to the side and opened up his messages instead, flicking through the new messages from people he had helped and their messages of thanks- one was for Thane from on of the salarians where he had first recruited the assassin, and Shepard added that message to the side where the other Thane tabs were.

Another message beeped, this time from Liara, but Alexander didn’t check it. He leaned forward, hands folded as he continued scanning the messages. It didn’t take long for him to get lost in his work again, more paper sticky notes joining the ones on the model display as he made notes and plans for future missions. Grunt was getting more agitated, and he moved around the mission date for Tuchanka up on the list- Mordin had expressed a desire to go to the krogan homeworld as well.

Something about the idea of Mordin, a salarian who had hand in the genophage work, accompanying a newly born krogan to his first site of his homeworld made Alexander uneasy and he added another note- take Mordin separately from Grunt- and stuck it under the sticky note with Mordin’s name. He was hoping to see Wrex as well, and he knew the krogan battlemaster wouldn’t be pleased to see someone like Mordin. Instead, he marked Garrus down as a second party member and turned his attention to the stack of precariously perched datapads.

He still had a few missions to help out his crew as well- he still needed to talk with Jack, Zaeed, and Samara to get more information on how he could help before he could make any concrete plans. Still, he mused, it wouldn’t hurt to have plans to modify. He reached down and pulled open a drawer and pulled out three blank datapads, putting a name on each and setting them seperate from the other pile. Time faded from him as he copied down important information from what he remembered and what he had gotten notes or messages from. Samara had sent him an email, but both Zaeed and Jack had simply told him in person with short messages detailing they wanted to talk about what they needed.

He had just begun to loosely plan out possible teams, hunched over and leaned close to his monitor with a datapad in his hand while the other moved things around when the datapad was plucked from his hand. Startled, Alexander looked over his shoulder to see both Kaidan and Liara standing at his side. The asari handed the other human the datapad and he put it facedown on the far side of the desk, and then they both stood there with their arms crossed.

“Oh. Hey?” He blinked and leaned back in his chair, mildly confused as to why they both looked at him mildly disapprovingly, “Everything okay?”

“Want to tell us what time it is?” Kaidan spoke, raising an eyebrow and Alexander’s puzzlement grew.

“It’s still early, it’s- oh.”

He had been so focused on his work that he hadn’t noticed the time- hours had passed and he had definitely missed dinner. And apparently multiple messages judging from the little red notifications on his message tab, likely from the pair standing right next to him.

“We were messaging you, asking if you wanted to share our bed or yours tonight, but we drifted off before your answer. When I awoke, and you had yet to reply, we both guessed you were working too hard again,” Liara spoke up as well, though she dropped her disapproving pose and leaned onto his desk chair, running a hand through his always messy hair.

“Mm.” He leaned into the touch, “Sorry, I got lost in my work just like you guessed. Still willing to share a bed?”

“Always. Especially if it means we don’t have to drag you into it,” Kaidan joked, stepping back to give Alexander room to move his chair and stand up. The human yawned and stepped in between the two, not having to stretch much to peck Liara on the lips but he had to stretch on his tiptoes to do the same to Kaidan.

“Don’t say a word, or I’m taking my kiss back,” Alexander warned as Kaidan’s lips quirked upwards in a smile, and the biotic feigned innocence. 

“Off to bed with us,” Liara reminded the two men, hiding a yawn behind a hand. Taking both of her human partners by hand, the asari scientist led them down the small set of stairs and towards the bed. Both Liara and Kaidan were already dressed in their sleep clothes, Kaidan having put on a shirt to make his way up, and Alexander felt a bit guilty that they had woken up to fetch him to bed and he quickly stripped down oh his day clothes.

Kaidan let out a low whistle of appreciation, and Alexander’s ears burned as Liara laughed. Like Kaidan, he usually slept in nothing but his boxers, though he kept a few old shirts around. Liara was currently wearing one such shirt that was so well worn that most of the picture on it had faded but it was so comfortable that neither had wanted to throw it out. 

He went into the bathroom to quickly brush his teeth and when he came out, Liara had already tucked herself under the covers and Kaidan sat on the other side of the bed, waiting.

“You could have laid down,” Alexander said as he climbed into bed and into the middle where he normally lay, unless either Kaidan or Liara requested it. He loved being in between the two, and they both enjoyed cuddling up to their smaller boyfriend, essentially both getting to be the big spoon.

“What, and have you crawl all over me? Maybe in the morning,” Kaidan responded with a wink and a yawn, and Liara reached over Alexander to gently smack him.

“Honestly, Kaidan.”

“I did say in the morning!” Kaidan defended himself as he got under the blankets as well, facing the middle of the bed where Alexander had already gotten himself comfortable facing Liara. Like he usually was as soon as he actually got into bed with his partners, Shepard was already starting to drift off, and he made a sleepy noise of contentment as he felt Kaidan tuck himself up behind him, the taller biotic resting his head on top of his so they were sharing a pillow.

“G’night Liara, Alexander,” Kaidan murmured, both of them sleepily replying. Liara shuffled up in the med a moment to press a sleepy kiss to Kaidan and and then to Alexander as she got comfortable again, intertwining a hand with Kaidan to rest it on Alexander’s hip. Comfortably trapped between the two, Alexander let his mind drift for however long he had until his alarms went off in the morning, and he’d have to face the work he still had.

For now though, he could just sleep and have his whole world confined to this bed.

**Author's Note:**

> alex: i will not sleep  
> liara and kaidan in unison: what fucking time is it  
> alex: I Will Sleep
> 
> anyway alex shep has 3 fucking cats and yes they are named after crew members! u can see more on my tumgle dualcolours.tumblr.com under the alex shepard tag!


End file.
